Rape and the Social Control of African Americans

PRE-CIVIL WAR SOUTH

BLACK WOMEN CONSIDERED JUST PROPERTY; RAPE OF BLACK WOMEN NOT AN ISSUE;

Stories

THE TIME PERIOD OF POST CIVIL WAR UNTIL 196OS

RAPE WAS USED AS SOCIAL CONTROL OF BLACKS BY LYNCHING MEN
Ida Wells

Lynching

lynching in Georgia

Speach to bureau

IN THE LAST 2 DECADES OF THE 1800S THERE WERE 1,540 LYNCHINGS (MOST BLACK) TO 1,214 EXECUTIONS.

DECLINED THROUGH 20TH CENTURY BUT UNTIL WWI THE AVERAGE NEVER FELL BELOW 2 OR 3 A WEEK!

LYNCHINGS WAS SETUP AS THE PROTECTION OF WHITE WOMANHOOD AGAINST THE "MONSTROUS BEAST, CRAZED WITH LUST"

TOOL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INTIMIDATION CENTRAL TO RACE RELATIONS; DESIGNED TO CONTROL THE BEHAVIOR OF ALL BLACKS

1938 RESEARCH BY HORTENSE POWDERMAKER, AFTER FREEDOM: A CULTURAL STUDY IN THE DEEP SOUTHFOUND, FOUND THAT 65% OF WHITE RESPONDENTS BELIEVED THAT SEXUAL ASSAULT OF WHITE WOMEN JUSTIFIED LYNCHING
ANY SEXUAL ADVANCES COULD CONSTITUTE RAPE OR AT LEAST JUSTIFY HANGING
EMMETT TILL WAS LYNCHED IN 1955 FOR WHISTLING AT A WHITE WOMAN
LEARING LAWS EQUATED STARING WITH RAPE

JACQUELYN HALL MAINTAINS THAT LYNCHING WAS USED TO ESTABLISH A HIERARCHY AMONG MEN

IN 1936 JESSIE DANIEL AMES STATED THAT "WHITE MEN HAVE SAID OVER AND OVER - AND WE HAVE BELIEVED IT BECAUSE IT WAS REPEATED SO OFTEN - THAT NOT ONLY WAS THERE NO SUCH THING AS A CHASTE NEGRO WOMAN - BUT THAT A NEGRO WOMAN COULD NOT BE ASSAULTED, THAT IT WAS NEVER AGAINST HER WILL."

AS IT WORKS OUT, LESS THAN A QUARTER OF LYNCH VICTIMS WERE ACCUSED OF RAPE,

HOWEVER, THEY RECEIVED THE MOST ATTENTION AND PUBLICITY, NEWSPAPERS WOULD WRITE ABOUT LYNCHINGS THAT WERE GOING TO HAPPEN

1950S AND 1960S RAPE REPORTS IN THE PAPER WERE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO LOOK AT BLACK OFFENDER AND WHITE VICTIM CASES; DURING 1960S THE NEW YORK TIMES PRINTED 249 ARTICLES ON RAPE, 49% WERE IDENTIFIED AS RACIALLY ORIENTED, 90% WERE BLACK OFFENDER AND WHITE VICTIM

SINCE 1930 453 MEN EXECUTED FOR RAPE, 405 WERE BLACK ALMOST ALL OF THE VICTIMS WERE WHITE

How does rape impact black women? Beloved

LeFREE FOUND RAPES THAT WERE BLACK MEN AND WHITE WOMEN REMAINS SERIOUSLY PROSECUTED

BLACK OFFENDER ON BLACK VICTIM DECLINES; BLACK WOMEN CAN'T GET RAPED

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